The Best Bitcoin-Only Wallets for Maximalists (Focus on BTC)

Core Principles of Bitcoin-Only Wallets

1. These wallets strictly support Bitcoin and no other cryptocurrencies, eliminating exposure to altcoin smart contracts or token standards.

2. They enforce UTXO model fidelity by avoiding abstraction layers that obscure transaction inputs and outputs.

3. Private key management is fully offline or air-gapped in hardware variants, with zero reliance on cloud backups or third-party seed phrase storage.

4. Transaction signing occurs exclusively on-device, ensuring no raw private key ever touches a network-connected environment.

5. Open-source implementations undergo continuous peer review, with deterministic builds verified against published source commits.

Hardware Wallets Designed for BTC Purity

1. Coldcard Mk4 ships with firmware compiled from audited, reproducible source code and supports native SegWit, Taproot, and PSBT workflows without altcoin firmware overlays.

2. BitBox02 Bitcoin-only edition disables all non-BTC functionality at the hardware level, including USB descriptors that prevent accidental connection to multi-asset wallet software.

3. Jade by Blockstream operates entirely without Bluetooth or Wi-Fi radios, enforcing physical isolation while supporting multisig coordination via microSD and QR codes.

4. Each device enforces strict coin control through manual UTXO selection interfaces, rejecting automatic change address generation that could leak address reuse patterns.

5. Firmware updates require signed binaries verified against Blockstream’s GPG key, with no fallback to unsigned or community-modified versions.

Desktop Wallets Prioritizing Sovereignty

1. Electrum in “Bitcoin-only” mode disables all plugin infrastructure, preventing injection of external scripts or altcoin explorers into the UI.

2. Sparrow Wallet implements full node integration via Electrum Personal Server, allowing users to validate blocks and transactions without trusting remote servers.

3. Bitcoin Core GUI enables direct RPC interaction with the local node, permitting custom fee estimation, manual RBF signaling, and raw transaction broadcasting.

4. All desktop clients reject BIP21 URIs containing non-BTC schemes, returning parsing errors instead of silently truncating unrecognized parameters.

5. Address validation routines strictly enforce bech32 and legacy P2PKH formats, rejecting any scriptPubKey not matching known Bitcoin output types.

Mobile Solutions Built for On-Chain Integrity

1. BlueWallet runs entirely client-side on iOS and Android, with no telemetry, analytics, or remote configuration endpoints active by default.

2. Muun Wallet uses static key derivation paths rooted in BIP84, refusing to import seeds generated under BIP44 or BIP49 unless manually converted via offline tools.

3. Blixt Wallet implements Lightning Network channels using only Bitcoin mainnet LND backends, blocking testnet or regtest channel establishment.

4. QR code scanning logic validates URI schemes before decoding, rejecting bitcoin: URLs containing query parameters like &amount=0.0001&label=altcoin-trade.

5. Each mobile app disables clipboard monitoring after paste operations, preventing persistent access to copied private keys or signed transaction hex.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does Electrum support hardware wallets without enabling altcoin plugins?Yes. Electrum disables all plugins by default. Users must manually enable them — and Bitcoin-only hardware integrations like Coldcard or Ledger remain functional without activating any altcoin-related extensions.

Q: Can I use a Bitcoin-only wallet with a Lightning node running on mainnet?Yes. Wallets such as Blixt and Phoenix interact exclusively with mainnet LND instances. They reject connections to nodes configured with --bitcoin.testnet or --bitcoin.simnet flags.

Q: Do Bitcoin-only wallets support multisig setups with non-custodial cosigners?Yes. Sparrow Wallet and Electrum both allow creation and signing of multisig transactions where all signers use Bitcoin-only devices. No altcoin-aware cosigner is permitted in the descriptor.

Q: Are there Bitcoin-only wallets compatible with Wasabi-style CoinJoin?Yes. Whirlpool CLI integrates directly with Bitcoin Core and supports UTXO selection from Bitcoin-only hardware wallets. It rejects any input associated with non-BTC chains or tainted addresses flagged by blockchain analysis heuristics.